SWARTZ CREEK - Midland High senior right guard Joe Cullinane said the Chemics wanted to set the tone up front in Friday night's Division 2 football district opener against host Swartz Creek.

Did they ever.

The Chemics scored on their first six possessions of the game and got four touchdowns from Christian Gordon in a 50-28 victory over the Dragons.

Now 7-3, Midland hosts Dow High (6-4) in a rematch next weekend in the district final. The Chemics beat the Chargers 14-8 last Friday to end the regular season.

"We were able to use our strength and quickness to get off the ball and hit harder than they did. That was our plan," Cullinane enthused.

"It feels amazing to come out and put up as (many points) as we did," he added. "This really gives us momentum going into next week."

Midland coach Eric Methner praised his whole team and the offensive and defensive lines in particular.

"The guys up front on both sides of the ball were the key to this ballgame," he said.

The Chemics scored on all four of their possessions of the first half and capped it off with a defensive touchdown to build a 36-6 halftime lead.

"Awesome effort by our guys," Methner said. "They came into an unfamiliar place and they were ready to go. We were outstanding on offense, defense and special teams."

After a short Dragons' punt, Midland took over at the Swartz Creek 44. A 28-yard run by Tommy Johnstone set up a 10-yard TD run by Gordon and Maxx Fisher kicked the first of his six extra points.

The Chemics drove 58 yards on 11 plays on their next drive, scoring on Johnstone's 11-yard run to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter.

Midland then forced a fumble and took over at the Dragons' 9 and eventually scored on Gordon's 1-yard run to make it 21-0.

After a long Dragons' drive that ended with a 12-yard TD pass from Michael Smith to Taquavius Humphries on fourth and goal with 2:02 left in the second quarter, Midland answered with quarterback Al Money's 3-yard TD run to go up 28-6 with 26 seconds to go.

After its next play from scrimmage, Swartz Creek called timeout with one second left to set up a final play. But Smith's long pass was intercepted by Gordon at the Midland 47 and he returned it 53 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the half. Money threw a 2-point conversion pass to Sam Hine to make it 36-6.

The Chemics took the second-half kickoff and quickly reached the end zone on two runs by Gordon - a 25-yard run and a 33-yard TD run to make it 43-6 and activate a running clock.

Swartz Creek answered with Thomas Marshall's 82-yard TD run, and Midland responded to that with Money's 28-yard TD run to go up 50-12 midway through the third quarter and reactivate the running clock.

With the Chemics subbing a lot of players in the fourth quarter, the Dragons scored on an 80-yard fumble return by Brennen Larion and a 26-yard TD pass from Smith to Marshall, along with a pair of 2-point conversions.

Gordon had 10 carries for 97 yards and three TDs, Johnstone had seven carries for 54 yards and a TD and Jordan Hicks had four carries for 64 yards for Midland.

Money was 5 of 8 passing for 78 yards and had four carries for 39 yards and two TDs.

On defense for the Chemics, Eli Gordon had seven tackles, Andrew Capua had six tackles and Cam White had five tackles.

For Swartz Creek (6-4), Marshall had 12 carries for 217 yards and two TDs.

After a 40-20 loss to Mount Pleasant four weeks ago put the Chemics in must-win mode, they have won four in a row and are in a great rhythm.

"We've just come together as a team," Cullinane said. "We had lost games that maybe we thought we should've won. We moved past that and came together as a team. We're playing good team football."

Although Methner didn't know immediately after the game who the Chemics' next opponent would be, he said they will definitely be ready.